Mirage of Scars
by Yaoifan101
Summary: After a beating from his father, Joey runs into Kaiba. Seto out of worry takes him in. Now Seto has to find out what happened and help him heal. And Joey must learn to trust him. Puppyshipping yaoi SetoXJoey
1. Chapter 1

He shouldn't be here. He should never have come here, he knew he should never ever have come here. If anything he should be somewhere far far away from here. Nothing good ever came from coming back here.

Joey forced himself to open his eyes and loosen his vice grip around the door knob leading into the apartment. He hadn't even stepped inside yet and he could already smell the heavy stench of alcohol. His teeth chattered faintly and his whole body shuddered from the cold wind that swept past.

He drew in a shaking breath and pushed the door open. The moment he stepped through the threshold he was greeted with the sight of a beer bottle soaring toward him. He dodged it just barely causing one of the stray shards to scrape his arm. He hissed instinctually covering the wound with his hand.

He could already feel blood oozing in between his numb fingers; he was tired from staying out in the cold for so long, the weather made him slow. Like he was just falling asleep on his feet, every movement he made looked like a drunken attempt at one.

Drunk.

What an interesting word to use in his situation.

"Where da HELL have you been!" A furious voice roared. Joey was just too tired to respond; his mouth moved but nothing came out. That only seemed to make the man before him even more angry, the man he called father stumbled toward him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and hauling him up. Joey groaned weakly as he tried to keep his eyes open, he could smell the alcohol on the mans breath and it made him feel positively sick. Suddenly Joey felt a fist colliding with his jaw, sending him practically flying backwards.

He cringed and whimpered when his back slammed against the ground. God he wished he had never come here.

He soon felt a sharp kick connect with his ribs earning a strangled cry from his dry throat. He wanted to scream, he wanted to plead, he wanted to cry out, and beg for him to stop, but instead he just laid there and took it.

What the hell had ever made him think that coming here would be a good idea? He should have known that his father would be drunk out of his mind. He should have realized that he would be pissed off at him for being late and would beat the shit out of him for it. And still he chose to come _here_.

After nearly five more minutes of abuse, the onslaught finally ceased. His father appeared to stumble backwards probably from his intoxicated stupor. Joey opened his eyes and quickly forced himself scurry to his feet and then ran out of the apartment as fast as his legs would carry him.

He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, and right now he could barely even feel his feet touching the ground. All the sensation in his body had gone still; leaving him utterly numb from head to toe. If there was one thing he could register it was the feeling of the cold hair whipping at his face, stinging his cheeks.

The pain radiating from his jaw and his stomach. The horrible fatigue; draining his energy.

None of it mattered though, all Joey's head told him to do was run, run, keep running! Run-!

"UGH!"

Joey felt his back hit something wet and hard and he realized he was on the ground. He didn't know what he had run into and quite frankly he didn't care. He sat up weakly cracking one eye open, panting hoarsely. He scuttled back up to his feet; legs shaking as he stood. He tried to move forward again, but something grabbed him before he could get anywhere.

He clamped his eyes shut and cried out in pain. Whatever it was preventing him from moving was touching one of the fresh bruises on his abdomen, and god did it hurt! Joey struggled faintly and started to shake terribly due to the icy weather.

He began speaking in slow unintelligent incoherent sentences that he doubted were even in english. Abruptly through his pain and numbness, Joey suddenly felt warm. He moaned drowsily as the heat warmed his frozen limbs making him feel sleepy.

Faintly he could hear someone or..maybe it was something in the distance talking to him. He couldn't recognize the voice and he couldn't make out the words at all.

And that was the last thing he heard before everything went dark.

...

Seto let out a bored sigh as he strode down the cold and desolate streets of Domino City. He had grown bored just sitting around in his office doing nothing so he had decided to take a walk. Seeing as he didn't really have to fear running into anyone, principally the press, since no one in their right minds would be out in this kind of weather.

And of course as irony would have it just as that thought passed his mind he felt something collide with his chest; causing him to falter for a moment. However, he guessed he had fared better then the other, who had been sent toppling backwards. He widened his eyes to see that the person who had run into him was non other then Joey Wheeler.

"What the hell are you doing out here Mutt?" he asked coldly. It was as if Joey hadn't heard him, it was then that he noticed how beat up the blonde was. Joey sat on the ground panting, looking like he was in some kind of strange trance.

He watched the crimson eyed child stumble to his feet and walk face first into him, nearly falling forward in the process. Kaiba's hand shot out, catching him before he could fall. However, he almost jumped when this caused a clearly pained and distressed cry to come from the duelist.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Wheeler?" he asked not allowing the concern to show. Joey began squirming and moaning out nonsense though causing Seto to frown in irritation. "Wheeler, you're not making any sense," he said.

Joey started to sag against his arm making it harder to hold him up with his arm alone. Seto sighed rolling his eyes and adjusted the blonde duelist so that he was resting against his shoulder instead. Seto could hear Joey whimpering in pain and shuddering against him and innerly it worried him. He opened his mouth again prepared to ask the dog why on earth he was out here, when he noticed that his fingers felt...wet?

Seto blinked looking down at the mop of shaggy golden hair resting against his shoulder. He experimentally rubbed his fingers together again to clarify that his fingers were indeed...very damp. He slowly looked past the dog's head to look down at his hand, the same one that he had caught Joey with, to find it painted red.

Seto's blue eyes widened upon the realization, it was blood.

Seto gazed back down at the blonde pup his brow creasing with worry. Why was his puppy bleeding?

/_Wait what!/ _ Kaiba stopped himself mentally. _His _puppy? Seto innerly shook his head at the absurd thought.

He forced himself to abandon his previous train of thought and refocused his attention back on the boy currently leaning against him. "Hey Wheeler, Wheeler?" Seto asked waiting for the boy to answer him. His only reply though was a soft and distant sounding moan as Joey suddenly went limp. Seto quickly tightened his grip around the boys waist so that he wouldn't fall again and cursed softly under his breath.

"Great, just perfect," he grumbled. Seto briefly looked up at the darkened sky and sighed watching his breath fog in front of him. "I came out here to clear my head, and instead I got an arm full of mutt," he breathed out. He shook his head and looked back at the teenager currently wrapped in his arms.

/_Even if I don't really like the mutt...I can't very well just leave him out here. Can I?/ _

Seto's face seemed to scrunch a little at the mental debate he was having with himself.

/_I mean...he's bleeding. I know I don't like him, but that doesn't mean I want him to die. Just because I'm taking him in it doesn't mean anything, right?/_

Seto frowned.

/_Idiot. Of course it means something...It says something just because of the fact that I haven't left yet./_

The tall brunette could hear the crimson eyed boy whimpering weakly in what seemed like a somewhat feverish and fitful sleep. His brow creased with worry and his eyes softened involuntarily causing him to frown in an almost pained way at the Wheeler.

/_I can't help it though! This damn mutt makes it so hard not to...feel bad for him. He's just so...pathetic it almost hurts. He's so pitiful it's not even funny anymore. It's just...sort of sad. He's like Mokuba when we lived at the orphanage...He can't even take care of himself./_

Seto shut his eyes briefly, letting out a silent huff before he reopened them. "Damn it. I guess I really can't leave you here can I.." Seto whispered to himself.

He gave a simple sigh of what sounded like defeat before he carefully readjusted the blonde in his arms, so that one arm was wrapped around Joey's shoulders while the other one slid underneath his knees to pick him up off the ground.

Kaiba blinked immediately after he picked the blonde boy up. He was surprised to see that the teen was so...light. He had expected him to be easy enough to lift, but he had never thought he'd be _this_ easy to carry. He almost felt lighter then Mokuba did, and considering Mokuba was about twelve and Joey was around sixteen, Seto was a little horrified at how similar their weight was. After all...with that many years separating them...Joey should be a lot heavier then Mokuba was.

Seto mentally shook himself, innerly telling himself that this was no time to be randomly pondering over the scarlet eyed teens weight. Seto vaguely heard a soft squelching sound and realized that his fingers began to feel damp again. He made a face somewhat akin to a grimace.

Joey was still bleeding. And not to mention beat up, unconscious, and freezing cold.

Without wasting anymore time Kaiba turned around and started back down the still cold and desolate streets back toward his mansion.

And in his arms the blonde puppy lay asleep; completely unaware of his surroundings.

TBC

**_Thought for awhile if i should just make this one chapter or at least keep going, but then i thought whats the fun in that! Lol so any how hopefully this story will get a lot more hits because unlike the other two series im writing this is a pairing that people are very familiar with! So yeah I'm happy to be writing these...sigh- it's a living...well not really since I never get paid -_-. I felt the need to post this today for some reason, honestly my grandpa just went to the hospital, he's okay it turns out but...you know still. Wow sorry...just killed the mood..lol. But anyways I hope you like this story. And I do have a question for you all, since I'm a nerd and fanfic obsessed I go online and sometimes I find these fanfic trailers...and I don't have really good tech for that stuff...nor much talent... so I wanted to know if any of you guys were since I would really really love to have a fanfic trailer for one of my Yu-gi-oh fics. Anyways though have fun and please REVIEW!...please...im bored._**


	2. Some Reason

Seto slowly opened the door to the mansion and stepped inside, shivering slightly as an icy wind swept past. He closed the door and walked into the living room carefully laying the blonde duelist onto the couch. Joey grimaced in his sleep and let out a pained moan as his battered form was laid down.

Seto cringed slightly just from the sounds the younger boy was making. Seto took the chance to look over the shorter blondes appearance, and found himself less then satisfied with it. He could see bruises peeking out from underneath his shirt, and a bleeding cut on his upper arm. Upon further inspection he noticed a darkening mark forming on his jaw. Not to mention the blood stain on the side of his shirt.

Seto found himself looking back at his own hands, his normally pale skin now smeared with scarlet red. Joey was still shaking and whimpering; panting heavily. What was worrying Seto even more was the fact that Joey's cheeks were now tinted a dark shade of pink.

He carefully slid his hand over the blonde's forehead, and frowned.

He wasn't warm. He was burning.

The ruby eyed boy quickly flinched away from Seto's hand letting out a frightened sound. The brunette's brow creased in confusion upon witnessing the strange reaction. Joey shuddered all over and curled up in a ball on his side, wearing a pained expression.

Seto reached out to him, but stopped himself suddenly causing his hand to hover above the teenagers golden locks.

What the hell was he doing? He shouldn't even care about this stupid mutt.

Seto tried to harden his expression, but found it increasingly hard to glare at the hurt look on Joey's face. He found his gaze softening involuntarily with concern again. He closed his eyes against the image and let out a sigh.

"Why is this mutt doing this to me?" he whispered beneath his breath. He glanced back down at the child again when he heard him whimpering. He placed one hand on the arm of the couch leaning against it to steady his weight as he leaned over the red eyed teen.

He allowed his other hand to touch the duelists forehead once more, only to have Joey flinch and shake beneath his fingertips.

"He probably got sick from being outside so long," he murmured to himself. Sapphire blue eyes shifted from the blondes face to his abdomen again, his eyes unintentionally narrowing at the sight of the blood. He knew that Joey was a street punk. He was hot headed and he always got into street fights. So him showing up to school with some cuts and bruises was never an abnormal thing...but this was a lot more serious then a few bruises.

This was...god he didn't even know what this was.

This was like someone had literally beaten the boy with a bat. Something told the brunette that this wasn't from just any street fight.

Seto let out a small huff, "Why do I even care?" he asked himself silently. He straightened; however, and removed his hand from the younger boy. "Well, there's no point just leaving you there to bleed."

He turned around and walked to the kitchen.

He suddenly found himself glad that Mokuba was asleep, he really didn't want to have to explain to him why Joey, his proclaimed rival, was laying passed out on their couch bleeding. Yeah, that would be a hard one to get out of. The young ceo began rummaging through the cabinets in search of the first aid kit. His staff was on holiday currently including his medical staff. Luckily though Seto wasn't a complete moron when it came to first aid, he wasn't any doctor, but he knew enough. He spotted the white box and grabbed it before shutting the cabinet door and walking back to the living room.

Joey didn't look any better then when Seto had left him though, in fact he looked worse. He was now sweating lightly and breathing heavily. Seto placed the box on the table in the center of the room and turned back to the ruby eyed boy. He tentatively reached for his shirt but faltered, he almost wasn't sure that he wanted to see what was underneath. After all Seto found himself a little sickened just by what had been done to the already visible parts of Joey, he didn't know if he wanted to see the rest.

He innerly shook himself though for thinking so stupidly, this wasn't debatable, Joey needed medical assistance. And that had to be his priority not his own uneasiness. He took a deep breath and pulled up the hem of the golden haired boys shirt to expose his bare chest.

Crystal blue eyes widened and filled with something in between horror and shock.

If he had thought Joey looked bad before, that was nothing compared to how the rest of him looked. His chest and stomach were covered with angry marks and bruises. Some were black others were blue and purple, and older ones looked yellow.

Seto wasn't stupid, he knew that different colors meant different stages of healing, some of these were newer then others. Meaning that whatever had happened to the mutt had probably happened before...many times before from the looks of it.

The ceo's eyes grew narrower and more horrified with every new inch of abused flesh he looked over. He spotted cuts adorning the side of Joey's stomach and some on his chest; each one trickling small tendrils of blood. And since he had moved the boys shirt the blood had now been smeared across his sun kissed skin.

For some reason unknown to him the angry marks covering the younger boys body made him positively furious. It took every bit of self control he had to stop himself from blowing up. He didn't know why it made him so angry though, after all this was the mutt.

This was Joey Wheeler.

The guy who he hated and vise versa. The person he insulted and couldn't care less about. And yet seeing him in his current physical state made him see red. For some reason the thought of someone injuring his puppy to this extant filled him with rage. Seto let a soft growl slip past his lips, momentarily choosing to ignore the fact that he had just referred to the dog as _his_ puppy.

Seto ceased his growling; however, upon hearing the distraught and feverish whine that emitted the young teen. He glanced back up from Joey's chest to his face to see his eyes shut tightly, his lips pressed together and quivering, and his brows furrowed together. Every bit of him screamed pain and fear.

Seto frowned.

Who could have done such a thing to his-...the mutt. Who could have hurt him so badly and instilled so much fear into the normally fearless duelist. Seto forced himself look away from the teens face and back at his chest. He knew why Joey was making that awful expression...he knew he needed to do this job quick and painless...for both of their sakes.

With that thought Seto silently went to work; cleaning and bandaging the boys injuries. He made himself ignore all of the pained cries and frightened whimpers that came from the crimson eyed youth. Although he found himself grimacing with each one.

He tried to make himself focus on Joey's injuries, but the very sight of them made Seto want to turn away. So he allowed himself a little bit of mental reprieve by going back to pondering about his strange feelings caused by said blonde.

He shouldn't have cared that Joey was injured...He shouldn't care about it now.

But oh god he did care! And for the love of Blue Eyes he couldn't figure out why. Perhaps it was because Joey kept reminding him of Mokuba when they were kids, Mokuba tended to be the only one who could ever bring out those types of feelings.

Maybe their likeness was getting to him.

But that couldn't be all of it, after all there had been plenty of times he had seen Joey beaten up and it hadn't gotten this reaction from him. So what made this time so different? Maybe it was because of how helpless he seemed.

That might have been it...after all Joey never let those kinds of emotions show around other people. Seto didn't need to be close to the blonde to know that. He supposed it was one of the few ways Joey and himself were alike. They were both the kind of people to put on brave faces and then flinch when no one was looking.

Seto let out another sigh.

There was a nagging feeling in his chest, this wasn't the only reason he was feeling this way. Perhaps...maybe...it might be possible that he felt this way because seeing him like this reminded Seto so much...maybe too much of himself when he was younger. More specifically after Mokuba and himself had been adopted by Gozaburo.

Seto still remembered hundreds of times when he felt terrified of going to another lesson. When he felt sick of the thought of reading another textbook. When he felt too hurt and tired to concentrate on his studies. He had never been beaten directly per say, it wasn't as if someone had ever physically hit him . But in a way they had worked him so hard it might as well been considered abuse.

Yes...maybe that was why Seto felt so commiserative towards him. Why he felt so obligated to help him...in the way no one had ever truly been able to help _him_.

His short reprieve of thought was broken when the sound of Joey's mewling finally got to hard to ignore. He had managed to clean off all the blood and was now just finishing with the bandages. He had already checked to see if his rubs might be broken, but it appeared it was nothing but severe bruising. Seto finally leaned back a little, most of the golden haired duelists chest was wrapped in gauze, but it at least looked a bit better then the sight of cuts.

Seto was glad when he was finally able to lower Joey's shirt, which in return caused said teens whines to decrease in volume. However, Seto realized immediately upon replacing Joey's shirt that it was still covered with blood stains. He would probably have to let him borrow some of his clothes, even though they would probably be much too big for him. Seto breathed out a sigh, they would have to do.

Seto turned his focus to Joey's arm. The blood had stopped flowing for the most part leaving lines of dried crimson on the shivering flesh. He picked up another swab from the first aid kit and wetted it with peroxide before pressing it against the cut earning a hiss from the still sleeping boy.

Seto frowned softly knowing that his fever must be pretty bad if he was still sleeping through all of this. He once more detached himself or at least attempted to and forced himself to carry on with his work. He gently dabbed the wound before he started cleaning off the dried tendrils of blood. Once that was finished he discarded of the swab along with the others he had used and picked up the roll of gauze again. He gently lifted Joey's arm causing him to flinch and whimper once more, earning a slightly upset look from the brunette.

Seto made quick work of wrapping Joey's arm up, finding himself wanting to get all of this done and over with.

The blue eyed ceo leaned back finally and let out a deep breath. At least that part was finally finished, sapphire orbs shifted to the side to look at the clock on the wall.

11:04 PM.

"Hm..not too bad.." he muttered to no one in particular. He stood back up from the ground and carefully slid his arms underneath the boy again and lifted him up from the couch. He blinked when Joey's head rolled to the side causing it to lay against his shoulder, he chose to ignore it as he carried his 'rival' up the staircase and to one of the spare rooms.

The brunette carefully laid him down on the bed as to not disturb him any further. He stood beside the boy gazing down at his so called 'enemy'.

"I know I shouldn't care..." he murmured. "But for some reason..there's just something about you, Mutt."

TBC

**_Im sorta on a roll. Yeah this was pretty much done i just added about two lines before i published it. Yeah...well things are moving a bit slow I noticed. Going to choose to ignore it though Lol. Oh by the way I probably spelled Gozaburo wrong, I was way to lazy to check how it was spelled. Well...not much to say actually I hope you enjoy it and please review._**


	3. Prisoner of War

It was around 11:30 by the time Seto had finished getting Joey changed into clothes that weren't caked with blood. Seto rubbed his head as he walked into the bathroom connected the the blonde's current room. It wasn't easy changing a persons clothes when said person was a complete rag doll.

But on the bright side he supposed, Joey was at least sleeping peacefully. Which put his mind as ease, allowing him to give his worrying thoughts a rest. Seto walked into the bathroom and stopped in front of the sink. He had realized after putting the blonde's clothes in the washer that his own hands were still stained with blood.

He turned the faucet on and began scrubbing his hands of the younger teens blood.

The actual realization that he had Joey's blood on his hands made him feel nauseous. He didn't like Joey, he thought he was second rate, loud, and positively annoying. But that didn't mean he wanted to kill him! And it certainly didn't give him any pleasure to know that the boy had been beaten half to death by someone.

Seto absentmindedly watched the water turn pink and drain from the sink. No matter how hard he tried for some reason he couldn't get the image of Joey with all those cuts and bruises out of his head, almost like it was burned into his brain. Every time he tried to think of something else his mind would somehow find a way to wander back to that picture.

Seto shook his head slightly, "That damn, Mutt." He muttered silently as he dried off his hands, he glanced down at them to find them returned to their natural pale color. He closed his eyes for a moment allowing himself to lean against the edge of the sink; he was exhausted.

Physically and mentally.

He let out a soft breath and forced himself to straighten once more. He turned off the light leading to the bathroom and walked out. Sapphire blue eyes wandered over to the bed where the golden puppy was sleeping. Seto had tried to find clothes that would fit him but even the smallest things he had were too big for the dog. So now Joey was laying in a pair of grey sweat pants and a long sleeved black shirt.

However, because of the fact that all his clothes were too big, the shirt hung down a little around the neck exposing his collarbone and the sleeves covered so much of his arms that only the tips of his fingers were showing. Not to mention the fact that Seto was pretty sure that the shirt alone probably went past the boys hips.

Luckily though the pants weren't nearly as bad and just flooded around his ankles a bit.

Seto strode over to the door leading out of the room, but found himself stopping at it. The door was slightly ajar, a sliver of light shone through the crack, illuminating a portion of his face. The gears in his head had been turning all night long and suddenly...they all came to a stop.

What was he supposed to do with the dog?

Azure orbs slowly turned back to the vermillion eyed teen. God knows how Joey would react to waking up in a foreign place, specifically the home of his arch rival. Was he just supposed to kick him out? Or was he supposed to make him stay and figure out what the hell happened to him?

Seto sighed softly and walked out of the bedroom silently shutting the door behind him. He walked down the hall way to his bedroom. He was too tired to think about all of this.

He walked into his room and shut the door behind him, turning out the lights as he stalked toward his bed. He laid down, not even bothering to change out of his clothes. He let his eyes slip shut. Tomorrow would be hectic and one problem would lead into another, but that was tomorrow. Right now it was still tonight.

So he would let himself sleep without worrying about what he was supposed to tell Mokuba, what he would do when Joey woke up, and how he was supposed to fix this mess he had gotten himself into.

Because tomorrow was still a whole night away.

...

Joey let out a silent moan when he felt a dull ache spread through his body. Stimulation ran drunkly through his motionless limbs and into his thoughtless brain. The first thing he noticed was that he was warm..very warm...way too warm. He let out a huff of breath suddenly feeling the need to breath heavily in order to get enough air.

His body was aching and sore causing him to let out a pained moan in his dazed state as he rolled over onto his back. His first reaction was to pull the covers around himself and try to fall back asleep. Thats when the realization hit him.

Covers?

Scarlet eyes snapped open and Joey sat bolt upright. The action made him cringe in pain though and his arm curled around his stomach; trying to soothe the pain radiating from the area. Joey panted softly staring down at the bed he was sitting in. He lifted his head up and looked around the room with wide alarmed eyes. Well this certainly wasn't his house that was for sure.

In fact this didn't look like any of his friends house's either.

He looked down at himself and was even more shocked to find himself wearing clothes that definitely didn't belong to him.

"What the hell happened?" he panted out. He jumped when he heard the door opening causing his head to whip toward the source of the sound. He felt his heart hammering against his chest as the figure stepped through the doorway.

Seto glanced over at the bed to see widened scarlet eyes staring back at him. He cursed innerly, he had been hoping to get here before the mutt woke up. Seto gently closed the door behind him though and walked toward the bed ignoring the way Joey gaped at him.

"K-Kaiba?" he asked stunned.

"Do I look like someone else?" Seto mocked stopping beside the blonde duelist. Joey's mouth hung open, he could barely form words right now he was so surprised.

"W-What the hell's going on? Why am I here?" he stammered scooting backwards on the bed. He gritted his teeth together cringing when a sudden jolt of pain ran up his side. Seto quickly reached out to stop the boy from falling off the bed; however, he found himself regretting the action.

After all if he found what he did with Joey last night was odd, it was even odder doing it with an actually conscious Joey.

"You..don't remember anything do you?" Seto asked slowly removing his hand. Ruby eyes opened once more to gaze momentarily at crystal blue before looking down. "..I..I don't know.." he replied softly. Memories of the previous evening were rushing back through his mind though. He did remember it every last bit of it. He remembered every kick, every scream, every cry.

But what he didn't remember, was Kaiba.

He vaguely remembered running out of his apartment and...running into something. Everything else was a blur though.

Seto crossed his arms over his chest as he observed the confused expression on the teens face, "You were running around last night in freezing weather," he said. Joey glanced up at the taller brunette his eyes holding a strange cautiousness, "You ran into me and passed out..." he explained.

"..T-That still doesn't explain why..." he trailed off for a short moment. "Why I'm not laying on the side walk." Seto's gaze suddenly narrowed causing an involuntary shiver to run up the younger boys spine; he never liked to be very close to people, not even his friends, after his father beat him. The experience always left him shaken up and little things set him off.

He could recall a particularly bad incident that had happened at school after his father had beaten the shit out of him the previous evening. When he arrived at school he lied to his friends about the bruises and said he had gotten into another fight while walking home yesterday. To his relief they seemed to believe his lie; however, he hadn't expected Tristan to pull him into a headlock. As soon as Tristan had grabbed him by his shirt like that Joey let out a rather frightened yelp and quickly jerked back. It had been one of the most awkward moments in Joey's life, luckily he managed to wiggle his way out of it by claiming that Tristan had accidentally pressed on one of his bruises.

Before Joey could zone out any further, Kaiba's voice brought him back to reality.

"Look, Mutt. Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I want you to die," he said rather harshly causing Joey to lean back with an evident look of fear etched on his face. Seto seemed to notice the reaction and forced himself to relax before he started up again. Seto closed his eyes for a moment running his hand through his hair before looking back at the blonde, "Look. All I want to know is why the hell you were out there; running like a maniac."

Joey's eyes unintentionally widened when he heard Kaiba ask that question. He knew he was in a bad spot right now, he knew that there was no way that he could ever let Kaiba of all people find out his deepest and darkest secret. So his first reaction was to do what he always seemed to do when he was in a bad situation; he ran.

Joey, without a single word, threw the covers off of his body and stood up from the bed.

"I need to get going," he stated a tad bit frantically. Seto raised an accusing brow, "Exactly where do you plan to go? If you hadn't realized Wheeler, there's a blizzard going on outside." he pointed out motioning to the window. Scarlet eyes shifted to the windows that lined the opposite wall to see that the ceo was correct. All Joey could see was white.

He glared back at the blue eyed teen, "So what!" he grunted and began walking towards the door only to be stopped by an arm being held out in front of him. Vermillion eyes glared up at the older teenager who was blocking his path.

"You're not going anywhere, Wheeler." Seto informed.

Joey growled softly, "Oh yeah Rich Boy?" he challenged. "I don't take orders from you damn it! So I'll leave if I want to!" he argued defiantly and shoved the boys arm away and headed for the door.

Seto innerly groaned, wondering why the dog had to be so damn difficult all the time. "I said stay, Mutt," he repeated in a demanding tone. Joey swung the door open; however, and walked out into the hallway shouting over his shoulder, "Fuck you Moneybags!"

Seto grumbled irately under his breath and walked out of the room after the boy.

Joey winced and gripped his stomach again feeling a sudden pulsing pain. He grimaced, but forced himself to head down the staircase. He knew he had to get out of here, if he didn't than god knows what Kaiba would do. Joey in the back of his mind knew that he was being a complete moron by going out into a blizzard with no where else to go.

Joey made it about half way down the stairs before he began breathing heavily. He wondered why it was so damn hot in this place! He could hardly see straight anymore. Joey faltered and found himself gripping the railing tightly with one hand as he felt his body sway uneasily, his eyes fluttered for a moment as a wave of dizziness swept over him.

He began to feel hazier when his vision doubled blurring the already foggy image in front of him. None of his senses were working, not even his hearing. Everything for that minute was all tuned out, unfortunately causing him to miss the soft creak of the step behind him.

His entire body shuddered when he felt another arm slip around his waist, he opened his mouth prepared to yell at whoever was grabbing him, but didn't get the chance to. Before he could get a single word out he felt his feet leave the ground. His eyes went wide when he found himself slung over the brunette ceo's shoulder.

He blushed and growled immediately, "Damn it! Put me down you fucking prick!" he shouted at him. Seto only sighed in aggravation, "Will you stop barking already!" he snapped at him causing Joey's mouth to snap shut when he heard the tone in the others voice.

"If you go out there you're going to freeze to death!" Joey gritted his teeth together in pain when he felt his sides constricting, "I don't care! Just put me down! You can't make me stay here Kaiba!" he nearly shrieked at the teen. He began kicking and hitting the blue eyed boy in hopes of freeing himself, "PUT ME DOWN YOU SON OF BITCH!"

Seto cringed slightly; purely from the volume. For someone so light the pup sure did have one loud voice. Seto merely tightened his grip around the blonde's waist; however, insuring that he wouldn't accidentally lose his hold on the struggling pup. Joey panted fiercely and growled in frustration, wondering why the hell he wasn't even making a smudge of progress.

"I'm not a little kid Kaiba! You can't just force me to stay here!" He yelled at him punching his back with as much strength as he could muster at the moment.

However, for some reason energy seemed to be at short supply. "Will you just quit struggling, Wheeler. You're not going to win so just give up. I'm not going to put you down." Kaiba stated. Joey bristled at the response and began struggling harder, "GOD DAMN IT RICH BOY! PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN PUT ME DOWN!" he screamed at him.

Seto rolled his eyes and finally stopped his assent up the steps.

He stood and waited for the blonde to calm down knowing that he would eventually tire himself out. Joey continued to struggle and kick and scream for all it was worth though. After all when running from problems like this failed; he went for plan B, which was to fight. But no matter what he did, Kaiba wouldn't budge. He wouldn't even falter, he didn't show any sign that Joey was making the slightest bit of progress.

It infuriated him!

He hated how Kaiba could make him feel like nothing more than a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. And ironically in likeness of a toddler throwing a tantrum Joey began to feel increasingly tired. His limbs were aching and his throat was burning. And as his exhaustion caught up with him his arms and legs stopped moving and he grew still and silent; leaving him a heaving mess draped over his rivals shoulder.

Seto glanced back at the ruby eyed teenager, "Are you finished?" he asked in a juvenile tone that made Joey's face turn red with shame. He only whimpered silently in defeat, feeling completely humiliated. The ceo's words had only succeeded in making him feel as young as he was being treated.

"You shouldn't even be out of bed right now in your condition, you moron," Seto huffed as continued up the stairs once more. Joey felt himself shudder, he shut his eyes trying to hide the pain he was feeling from moving around so much, "W-What are you talking a-about? What co-condition?" he asked, his voice shaking despite his best efforts to obscure his stutter.

"If you had just waited I would have finished," Seto lectured. "I was going to say before you ran off, that you were bleeding heavily after you passed out. Which is why you most likely keep cringing like that." he pointed out causing Joey to purse his lips together when he realized the brunette had noticed.

Seto noticed by the time they reached the top of the staircase that Joey had gone completely still against him; minus the way he was shaking. He frowned slightly almost feeling sorry for the dog...almost.

"I took care of your injuries when I brought you here, so if I was you I wouldn't try to move around as much as you just did." he warned.

Joey whimpered softly in pain; having gone nearly limp over the brunette's shoulder. He was too tired and in too much pain to fight right now. His kept his eyes shut in attempts to override his nausea, but grimaced and instinctually curled his fingers around the back of the older boys shirt; trying to steady himself. Seto glanced back at the blonde when he felt the tug on his shirt as he walked back to the bedroom.

"I highly doubt getting all worked up helped your fever either," Seto noted out loud.

/_Fever? ..Well that explains a lot/_ Joey thought in the back of his head. No wonder this place was so warm.

Joey decided to blame it on his fever that he was acting this way. He was sick; that's why he was giving in so easily and acting so strangely. He let his forehead rest against the brunette's upper back, silently blaming it on the fever as he did. Joey let out a soft moan when he felt a wave of heat pulse throughout his frame causing a small bead of sweat to drip from his cheek.

"...Why did you bring me here?" Joey panted softly.

Seto once more glanced back at the blonde boy, "Don't ask me," he replied as he reached the boys room. He closed his eyes for a moment and let out a soft sigh before carefully bringing the blonde down from his shoulder to put him back on the bed.

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself," he notified. Joey groaned feeling his entire world spin upon being put down and found himself uncharacteristically curling up into a ball on the bed. Hoping that the new position would help the pain subside.

"It doesn't matter why I brought you here. You're not leaving until you're better and I find out what happened."

"Why do you even care?" he queried.

There was a long pause after Joey allowed those words to slip out and for a moment he thought that Kaiba might have left.

"Because I do."

Joey found himself less then satisfied with the brunette's answer and unbeknownst to the younger boy, Seto himself felt dissatisfied with his reply.

It left both their questions unanswered; leaving them both even more restless. Seto pushed his hand through his brown locks, "Look, it doesn't matter why I care, I just do," he stated dropping his hand back to his side. Joey cracked an eye open to look up at his rival.

"It matters to me..." he murmured out softly. Seto stared down at the other almost like he was surprised by the others answer. He shook his head; however, muttering something to himself as he leaned over the young blonde.

He reached for the boys abdomen knowing that Joey had probably hit something during his entire tantrum, but the boy quickly covered his injury with his hand and tried to scutch backwards, while shaking his head in protest.

Seto frowned his brow creasing with a mix of irritation and worry, although he hid the latter emotion well. He could tell by the pained look etched across the boys flushed face that obviously something was wrong. He gripped the boys hand, "Will you stop squirming already!" he huffed irately causing the other to fall completely still.

Seto innerly felt something churn in his stomach when he felt the boy tense underneath his hand. He took a deep breath telling himself to calm down before he frightened the mutt anymore then he already had.

"I want to make sure you didn't hit anything," he explained silently. His voice had unintentionally softened and he hoped that Joey was too feverish to notice his slip up. To his relief the vermillion eyed child didn't say anything and instead relaxed again and allowed the pale teen to remove his hand.

Seto carefully pulled the black shirt up to the others chest exposing the bandages he had placed there the previous evening. His blue eyes narrowed when he saw a blood stain forming over the boys side, "Damn it," he breathed out.

The curse caused Joey to open his eyes once more and look up questioningly at the older boy. Seto straightened when he noticed the blonde looking up at him.

Seto placed a hand on his hip, "Well it looks like you did hit something, Mutt."

Joey blinked, "Wha?" he asked. Seto rolled his eyes, "You're bleeding again," he said simply. Joey glanced down at the bandages covering most of his upper half, "When dat happen," he murmured out his eye lids growing heavier.

Seto noticed that the blonde was starting to drift off and knew that he had to get this done quickly. He let out a sigh, "Just stay there Wheeler, and I'll get a first-aid kit," he ordered silently and walked out of the room.

Joey watched through bleary vision as the door closed before he closed his eyes again letting out a soft groan. He wrapped his arms gingerly around his stomach and brought his legs up close to his chest. He grimaced and buried the side of his face into the covers of the bed hoping that perhaps it would help to ease the pain.

He could smell blood again and it made him feel nauseous, it reminded him of his father. In his feverish condition he could remember the event so vividly. Joey cringed and his eyes tightened fearfully, it was too vivid.

He could smell the overwhelming stench of alcohol, he could hear the drunken shouts and stumbles, he could feel the sharp pain radiating from his jaw and his chest and his stomach, and he could taste the blood filling his mouth and dripping down his chin.

Seto sighed gently and carefully pushed the door open. He widened his eyes to see Joey curled up tightly on his side wearing a clearly pained and fearful expression. Seto strode over to the bed setting the first-aid kit on the end of the bed, "Wheeler?" he asked tentatively.

Joey's vermillion eyes fluttered open and looked up dazedly at the brunette. Seto looked down at the boys stomach again and removed his arms, he silently opened the kit and rummaged through it. "Does it hurt a lot," he asked offhandedly.

Joey glanced at the older boy and then looked away, "I-It's not that bad," he lied. Seto sat down on the bed and rolled his eyes disbelievingly, "Sure it's not," he drawled sarcastically and began unraveling the bloody bandages causing Joey to unintentionally flinch backwards; away from the offending hand.

"Quit it, if you move too much I'm gonna knock into something," Seto warned in a serious tone. Joey glared softly at the ceo, "Well excuse me. But having my arch enemy dress my wounds makes me a little nervous," he snipped defensively.

Seto picked up the wet cotton swabs and began cleaning the cuts which made Joey hiss in pain. "I don't think that's why you're nervous," Seto muttered. Crystal blue eyes looked back at ruby ones, "I think it has to do with whoever did this to you."

Joey closed his eyes innerly trying to detach himself from the situation, "Will you just drop it," he breathed out.

"Why should I," Seto rebutted.

"Cause it's none of your business!" Joey countered. The blonde cringed and jerked backwards when he felt an exceptionally painful jolt run through his side. He felt a hand touch his side though, gently tugging him back and holding him in place, causing him to open one eye.

"..Sorry," the brunette said softly while pressing the disinfectant onto the cut. Joey found himself blinking incredulously at the young ceo.

Had..._Seto Kaiba _just _apologized_ to _Joey Wheeler_?

In all the years that Joey had known Kaiba he had always thought that the word 'sorry' wasn't in his vocabulary. Seto stole a quick glance at the boy's face, but quickly looked away when he realized that the duelist was staring at him.

"Why do you care so much?" Joey asked softly his brow creased in confusion as he stared at the blue eyed teen. Seto breathed out through his nose as he picked up the roll of bandages, "I already told you I don't know," he replied.

"You do realize that I'll never tell you, don't you?" Joey questioned. Seto let out a sigh muttering something along the lines of, "Stubborn Mutt." Seto continued to bandage the wound as clinically and stoically as possible, not wanting to deal with the emotional side of this situation.

Icy sapphire eyes remained fixated on the job he was doing, and slim pale fingers worked nimbly.

"Then I hope _you_ realize that that means you're never going to leave here," Seto stated suddenly earning a surprised look from the younger boy.

Seto closed his eyes, but reopened them as he gathered up the supplies again and stored it away inside the first-aid kit. He picked up the box and stood up gracefully from his seat on the bed, unaware of the fact that vermillion eyes were following his every movement.

Kaiba strode to the door as if nothing had taken place between them prior to this moment. He faltered momentarily at the door though and glanced over his shoulder at the blonde; finally meeting Joey's eyes. The two merely stared at each other for what seemed like a long time, neither of them could find words to use in order to break the stalemate between them. It was as if their minds had erased all memories of speech, all the definitions of words, every movement of the tongue; every last breath was stolen away.

Seto; however, was the first to realize their uncharacteristic exchange of eye contact and abruptly broke it. He turned his head away and cleared his throat, "You need to sleep," he informed trying to cover up the strange moment that they had shared.

And just like that Kaiba left, without another single word, he left. Joey stared at the door much like he had done before Kaiba had entered the room. His eyes then drifted down to his newly bandaged abdomen, his eyes softened slightly.

Although he did hate Kaiba he had to admit that he was grateful to him for helping him. Despite their rivalry Seto was being rather nice to him. Given the circumstances. Even though Kaiba hated him, he was still making an effort to make sure that he got better...and that was more than Joey could say for his own father.

Joey let out a troubled breath and pulled his shirt down to cover himself back up before crawling underneath the covers. He pressed his head against the pillow and closed his eyes.

Seto Kaiba, child prodigy and billionaire and owner of one of the most successful companies in all of Domino City...his arch rival, was trying to figure out his darkest and most guarded secret.

He was gathering the pieces that Joey had foolishly left in plain sight hoping that no one would see them. He was putting them together, he was growing suspicious, he was drawing conclusions. He was already closer to the answer than his own friends and family were.

He had a goal.

That goal, that prize, was the knowledge of his secret. To find out who had hurt him.

He would never stop trying, he would never stop questioning, he would never ever stop pushing. He would do whatever it took to find out the truth of that fateful night that had started Joey's downfall. He would never let him leave this place until he had what he wanted. Joey would be trapped here like a prisoner of war until he gave in and confessed all the secrets he knew. Only then would he be let go.

Yes. Seto Kaiba, child prodigy and billionaire and owner of one of the most successful companies in all of Domino City...his arch rival, had every intention of finding out his darkest and most guarded secret.

TBC

**_Sorry it sucked and took so long. I haven't been inspired and it came out looking like crap. So sorry. But here it is...chapter..3? Yeah I think so. Lol well yep here it is...I really don't have that much to say about it. Honestly I was in love with the first part of it...before Joey woke up. And then i was sad because it was crap. However I do enjoy the ending lines...they bring me joy. Of the poetic nature. Well...yeah...again finals this week, and I have to make christmas presents AND I have to make sure to keep up with my present for you guys. Again it's become a tradition to write a chapter and then post it at exactly 12 Am...christmas. Sigh I just have to keep writing and figure out which one to update...if you guys have a suggestion tell me. Note , it has to be one of the yu-gi-oh fics that I'm writing...there's no definite that I'll update that one...but who knows. REVIEW!_**


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